Psalm of Teaching
by Muffin-Donut
Summary: About 100 years after the events of Halo 3 the Elites and their followers take action against the remains of the Covenant forces by making their own "demons".  The genetically cloned descendants of the spartans will follow in their bloody footsteps, becoming killing machines for their alien abducters.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: THIS IS NOT A LEMON AND NEVER WILL BE. This is completely random, I just thought of it out of the top of my head, flamers can go flame themselves. Also, we have already written the first 9 chapters so any suggestions will not be added till later. Enjoy!**

**The Psalm of Teaching**

_Listen ye unlearned dogs_

_**Listen ye to light and truth **_

_Listen ye to ancient power_

_**Listen ye to credent proof**_

_Learn the lessons of obedience_

_**Walk the path that's set for ye**_

_Do what needs to learn th' lesson_

_**And kneel in thy devoted adherence **_

_Chapter I_

POV: Fàté

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I'm just sitting in my room with my AI talking about dividing by zero! If only every day could be this perfect! A mild breeze blew in through the only open window—even though all my walls were windows.

"Heheheh, that boy is poking around in the rice fields again," announced the foot tall, holographic person. I looked up from my math journal at the AI. Like all AI's, her figure was a shade of blue but her look was one of a kind. Dark, frazzled hair and crazy, wide eyes hidden behind nose-bent glasses; the lab coat she wore had many rips and tears that seemed like a beast had gotten a hold of it. A true mad scientist look. "Shall I spring the nets? Ooh! Or maybe the shrapnel launchers?" This AI had been with me since I was seven years old but she went slightly rampant after the first year or so. But the fact that she was a smart AI created without military recourses was a feat all its own. Especially being now eight years of age and hasn't destroyed herself.

"Now, now, Muffin. He's just curious as to how I set up such advanced mechanical devices that surpass my other designs." The AI crossed her arms and disappeared. Clearly she was upset that she couldn't at least cause the boy some misfortune. Only an AI with such a unique personality and the name Muffin would be upset over not being able to harm someone.

"Curiosity at age sixteen is highly unlikely, especially at the work of a girl one year younger than he is."

I cut the AI off. "So your suggesting that he's snooping around just to get in my pants?"

"Precisely."

I chuckled quietly, just as my door opened and two people walked in. Muffin had disappeared back into her console, and I slipped her portable carrying device into my pocket. I chimed a cheery, "Hello, Mother!", like any good daughter would. It's not like I didn't love my mother, but her "guest" made me throw up my defenses.

"Fàté," she began, her voice cracking in grief, "I'd like you to meet someone." I turned around in my office chair. Ah, Dèjá, my lousy mother, had tried her hardest to get the best for her daughter. But even human greed would get to the woman with the sleek black hair tied behind her in a ponytail. Her moss green eyes were rimmed red with tears. The poor owner of a rice farm couldn't say no to her own life and the huge amount of money that was offered to her.

I gave a warm, but completely false smile at the man who thought I was completely clueless. But charades were not my forte. "Yes, that would be Forge, the slaver that has offered you life and $250,000 for me to be sold as a slave because of my exceptional intelligence."

The man raised an eyebrow in awe. He was certain that I was as smart as he had heard. He shoved my mother out of the room as the rest of his crew swarmed into my bedroom. I stood up slowly as some of his goons pulled out ropes. But they hadn't seen the thin, clear string that was clasped between my fingers. With a slight tug, nets erupted from the ceiling and trapped the group. They shouted in shock and anger as I leapt out of the open window behind me. My rain boots rhythmically clashed with them moist ground, following the path between the rice patties. The setting sun cast my shadow far across the flooded fields. The jungle was my best bet of staying hidden. I did have some traps set to keep the slaver occupied.

I took a left at the next path just as a heavy truck turned onto the main path. Quickly, I pulled Muffin's portable disk out of my pocket and commanded," Activate all traps as soon as they are in range. Injuring is, of course, permitted."

"Ha! That's the only way!" The AI replied, just before shrapnel exploded into the truck, efficiently popping all the tires and knocking one of the men out. He was probably dead from the combination of the shrapnel and the fact that the truck was probably going about 90mph. I didn't look back after that because it would slow me down. Soon, I broke off the path and into the dense jungle and dodged the multitude of branches, roots and vines. I slid across the moist ground by a tree, lifting up the vine covering. I yanked out the backpack and slid my arms through the straps. Just then Muffin flashed onto the portable disk in all her mad scientist glory.

"Slipspace rupture detected."

My eyes flashed down to the AI and exclaimed, "What?"

She giggled, "Just kidding! The slavers have entered the jungle. Shall I spring the traps?"

"Please," I said as I began to jog forward. There was a whipping sound and somewhere behind me, men started shouting.

Someone yelled, "Get them down from there!"

I laughed quietly as I continued forward. Sounds of traps springing kept my footsteps company. It was humid outside and I tacked my white hair behind my ear. It had been a very light blonde before but it had become lighter and lighter as time went long. But my black streak that went down the right side of my hair hadn't changed since I'd been born 15 years ago. The only normal part of my appearance was my slight tan and five foot six height. Even my eyes were abnormal. They're both neon green, or as I like to call them, radioactive green. Quite nice, isn't it?

After about an hour of jogging I finally got to my destination. I stepped out of the tree line and to the edge of a crater. The crater was a crash site of some Forunner artifacts from a long time ago. But they had been removed and taken to the Cote d'Azure museum some odd years ago. Though both the artifacts and the city were long gone.

I took a deep breath and stared into the almost hidden sun. It was time to set up camp and I knew exactly where, too. I was about to continue my walk when an air disturbance took my complete attention. It looked like heat rising off a far away surface. Before I thought to run, someone grabbed me from behind. I instantly started to kick and scream, trying to loosen myself from the persons grip.

"Quiet, human!" a voice barked from thin air, not quite like anything I had ever heard.

I didn't want to stop screaming but the rough edge of the voice and the word 'human' just made me curious. In front of me, the air shimmered and revealed a Sangheili warrior, or as we call them, Elites, standing where earlier had been the shimmering air. I stared in shock at the alien as something stuck me and blackness enclosed me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

POV: Jai

"Hey, Jai! Wake up! Your burning day light and its your turn to do the dishes!," yelled Mother Terreca. I grumbled, rolling over in my bed.

"Five more minutes!," I shouted. I could hear her mumbling outside the door.

"Five more minutes and you'll be washing the dinner plates as well!" I could hear her stomp down the stairs and I knew if I made her wake me a second time, I would deeply regret it.

I got up, stretching, both hands touching the walls of my 'bedroom', which was actually a large broom closet with a bed and a small chest in it. And don't forget the brooms. Not that I would care for a bigger room, seeing as I was barely five feet tall. "It's always my turn to do the dishes," I said, putting on my worn out slippers and taking my glasses off the chest.

Walking out of my room, I realized I had slept most of the day. The brothel was already as busy as a photographer at a wedding and I was surprised all the noise hadn't woken me up, even though after twelve years you would think I would get used to it.

"There you are! Mother Terreca was about to wake you up with one of those brooms you sleep with!" I turned around and saw my best friend, Olivia, already looking fatigued, carrying empty lunch plates into the kitchen. I followed her into the kitchen and almost caused her to drop the plates when she stopped suddenly at the front door.

"What is it?," I asked, trying to look around her. The door opened and one of the mobsters (his name was Fredrico, I think) walked in, followed by two hired guns. Fredrico glanced in our direction, then put on a fake smile when Mother Terreca walked in.

"Hello, Fredrico! What brings you to my brothel today?," she said, laying on a little thick. Then she noticed us. "Ah, I see you are finally awake Jai. Shouldn't you two be washing the dishes?" We both looked down at the floor as we walked around them into the large kitchen. Olivia put the plates into the sink, and started to run some water.

"I think the brothel should get a dishwasher with all the money they make," I said, trying to cheer Olivia up. She turned on me with so suddenly I almost fell on a stool.

"You have no idea what is going on, do you?," she asked, looking between me and the door.

"Child labor?," I guessed. She sighed.

"No, Jai. There is nothing funny about what is about to happen. That mobster, Fredrico? He's here to find some permanent escorts for his boss." Suddenly I realized what she meant.

Before we could continue our discussion, the door opened and Fredrico walked in, followed by Mother Terreca. She was begging him to leave, but he didn't seem to pay her any attention. He was staring at me.

"Jai, is it?," he said, his voice smooth and deep. I nodded very slowly, trying to find a way out of here in case things went bad. "The big man would like to meet you." I stopped myself just in time from yelling back at him. I took a deep breath before I spoke.

"And what would the _great_ mobster of Gilgamesh want with me?," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. I could feel Olivia flinch beside me. Only people with a death wish insulted the leader of a mob. Fredrico smiled, but apparently his eyes didn't get the picture. He was staring daggers at me.

"As I'm sure you've heard, _Mister _Roberto is looking for a new escort," he said, putting emphasis on mister. I started laughing.

"Mister Roboto?," I managed to say before he ran up to me and grabbed me by my neck. Olivia and Mother Terreca ran out of the room just as Fredrico's hired guns came in. Fredrico threw me onto the ground and the two men held me down.

Fredrico got in my face. "I don't think you would be a very good escort for Mister Roberto. Maybe I should try you out first." Before he had time to undo his belt buckle, an explosion shook the whole building, throwing Fredrico to the ground and scaring his two thugs into letting me go.

I could hear screaming going on inside the parlor, and before I could get up and try to escape, three blurry figures walked in. They shot Fredrico and his two thugs, which deactivated their active camoflauge and I realized they were elites. I sat there, hiding in the corner, waiting for them to kill me. They never did. One of them came up to me and dragged me into the parlor. It was a mess.

The bodies of Mother Terreca and all of the Courtesans littered the ground. I could see Olivia being dragged outside by more elites, tears streaming down her face. Before I could start to scream, one of the elites hit me across the face so hard I blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up, my head felt like it was going to explode. I didn't remember getting into Mother Terreca's wine cellar. Then it all came back to me. Olivia. Fredrico. Mother Terreca's dead body and the Sangheili. I opened my eyes, which hurt, and I found myself looking straight at a glowing blue woman in a lab coat. "What…. .the…. hell?," I said, pinching myself, thinking I was dreaming. The 'woman' blinked her holographic eyes and turned to look at someone behind her. "Well, she seems fine. Except she thinks I'm hell," the woman said. Finally I realized she wasn't actually a woman, but an AI. I sat up on my elbows and saw another girl was in the cell.

She looked about my age, except she had hip-length white hair with a black streak. She was looking down at her feet, and when she looked up I thought something might be wrong with her, because her eyes looked like they were radioactive. "Who are you?," I said, sitting up and putting my hands on my head. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she said, her voice quiet. "Oh, don't mind her, she's just a little upset after being injected with a needle. Her name is Fàté," the AI said, smiling at me. I know it seemed mean, but I couldn't help it. I started laughing. "What's so funny?," the AI said, looking at me like I'd just started floating. "Her name is Fatty?," I choked out. Then my headache turned into a migraine and I quit laughing. The girl glared at me and stood up. Damn, I realized, she's taller than me. "Laugh all you want to. It's not going to matter when the Sangheili come to get us." I took my hands off my head and looked around at my surroundings. We were in a small cell, the shape of a rectangle and about as big as the average dining room table. There weren't bars over the door, but you could hear the humming of energy bars.

"Where are we?," I said, standing up, but then having to lean against the wall. The girl, Fàté, looked outside the cell. "Well, as far as I can tell we are onboard a Redeemer cruiser. Muffin says the name of the ship is Devotion. Apparently, the Sangheili need us for something." The AI, Muffin, appeared on the portable disk. "Yes, there are apparently raids going on all throughout the Outer Colonies. The Redeemers are abducting humans between the ages of 12 and 18," she said, zoning off. I looked back at Fàté. "Any idea why?" She shook her head.

A door opened somewhere in the ship, and then a squad of grunts led by an elite walked into the brig. They opened one of the cells, which contained two more teens, and the dragged them out. Then they left, completely ignoring everyone else. The door shut behind them and you could hear it lock. About a half hour later, they came back and took two more teenagers. I noticed the other two hadn't been brought back.

Eventually, we were the only ones left in the brig. Fàté quickly grabbed Muffins portable disk and put it in her pocket. A few minutes later, the grunt squad came back and they opened our door. Fàté didn't even struggle. I did though. I kicked one of the grunts in the face and threw another one against the wall. The remaining grunts backed away, scared, but the elite walked in and grabbed my hair, dragging me out. I thought he might put me down but he dragged me all the way to the hangar by my hair. It did not help my headache at all.

When the elite finally put me down, I could see blood all over the floor. I slipped when I tried to get up, hitting my head on the floor. I think I might have had brain damage after the first few hits. Then the smell hit me. Burning flesh and blood. I looked and saw a huge pile of bodies in the corner, most of them covered with plasma burns. I recognized the teens from the brig. I quickly turned away, but the image was forever burned in my mind.

The elite that had dragged me by my hair pointed at me and then at the small stage that had been hastily set up. I walked up on it, noticing a small white bar laying on the floor. I look at the elite and he nods at me. I pick up the bar and I feel it start to hum. Small spouts of energy appear, then turned into a sword, with intricate bars of energy crossing and recrossing each other. I didn't have a long time to look at it though. Almost as soon the sword had started humming, elites had swarmed around me and ripped the sword from my hands.


	4. Chapter 4

"That's an intriguing piece of equipment," I muttered as I looked upon the activated sword. It wasn't just a sword, though; it also appeared to be also a gun. Elites were about to swarm around me but I lifted my other hand to tell them to hold on. I turned the sword-gun around and guessed, "Looks Forerunner in construct." I peered up to see the Elites were cautiously inching forward. "But why kill the others before me? Perhaps they could not activate it as I can, hmm?" The corners of my lips twitched upwards into a smile. "There's a reason you kidnapped humans, though," I stated, "only humans—albeit certain ones—that can activate these Forerunner weapons." At that moment, I was glad the weapon had its tip pointed above, for I must have pressed its trigger because a burst of ammunition went off and collided with the ceiling. "Total accident."

The Elites didn't care if it was an accident or not, one yanked the weapon from my grasp while another grabbed my arms and restrained them behind my back. I was pulled out of there so quickly they were dragging me because I couldn't keep pace with them. Though it was over soon because the new cell I was placed in was closer than my old one I shared with Jai. The girl who thought my name was pronounced Fah-tay, or Fatty. Is it a crime to add accents just because they make a plain name look exotic and original? I sat down against the far wall and slipped Muffin's disk out and placed it on the floor.

Her holographic image sprang to life and stared up at her creator with wide, excited eyes. "Imagine that!" she squealed in delight, "Forerunner weapons! I don't think anyone had found any personnel weapons yet!"

"Well they have, and I have a hunch they're not going to let me go since I can use it."

"Did you see how they were being so careful once you activated it? I bet they were afraid that you were going to kill them all with it! You probably could have, too! Oh and when you shot it off? They acted instantly! Ha! I don't think I've witnessed anything more entertaining! A group of Elites terrified of a fifteen-year-old human girl!"

I scoffed, "Anyone should be frightened by my intellect."

"That's true," agreed the AI.

I heard someone yelling in anger and protest when the door to the corridor opened. I looked up from Muffin and awaited her. Two Elites came into view pulling her by her arms. Even though they clearly outmatched her, she still fought to get free. They just released the energy bars to throw her inside. One of them, though, caught sight of the holographic mad scientist standing in front of me.

"No!" I shouted as he came into the cell, walking towards me and my creation. I snatched up the disk and scrambled to the side of the cell and then proceeded to run outside past the deactivated energy bars. But the other Elite caught me by my arm and threw me into the other alien. He grabbed my wrist and squeezed so sharp and tightly I could do nothing but drop Muffin's disk. He tossed me into the wall before he bent down to snatch her up. I stared helplessly after her as he walked out and the bars were turned back on. Defeated, I slumped against the wall and stared after the Elites as they strode out of sight.

"Are you really going to be all emo just over a piece of technology?"

I turned on the red-headed girl, eyes on fire with anger. "That was my only friend they just took! My own creation! I've had her since I made her eight years ago! She's sure to destroy herself now! After all the trouble I went to make sure that rampant AI didn't do that and now it's most likely been all a waste!" I slammed my fist on the metal floor, expressing me anger. I ignored the pain through the heated emotions flooding me.

"You're not the only one! My best friend was dragged away by other Elites and she's not here! They must have killed her!"

I jumped to my feet and towered over her, staring her down. "You don't know that! There are probably plenty of other cells she could have been put into! Muffin is bound to end herself since she's been separated from me! There's only 8.2471 percent chance she doesn't do that!"

"There's still a chance!" she snapped.

I ground my teeth together and growled through them, "Hardly at all! I built her from scrap! I know how she works and what makes her tick! She's probably already torn herself to pieces!"

Jai took a step back and scrunched her eyes at me. "You're lying," she accused.

"Lying? Lying about what?"

"There's no way you built an AI! You're only a kid, just like me!" I bent over laughing, my gut clenching from the laughs that racked my body. "What's so funny?"

I stood up and wiped a tear from my eye, being there from laughing so hard. "I made Muffin when I was seven! It's the least bit impossible! Clearly you don't understand my level of IQ. That "smart" AI was built in my room on Sigma Octanus IV without any outside help. I wasn't rich either! My mother owned rice fields, that's it! It might seem impossible but it's not." I chuckled, "I remember the reason why I built her! I didn't like my AI tutor so I decided to build my own. Ah, old Xavier. I can't say I missed him went he had to be destroyed last year. Unlike Muffin, he couldn't control himself when he became rampant. Those people at ONI didn't even send me a new tutor, either. Probably wanted to see if I'd start making AIs again without having to be tied down to tedious studies."

Jai took another step back and stared at me like I was some sort of freak of nature. Well to her, I was. I could outsmart dumb AIs with ease! "I must be having some bad nightmare," she muttered to herself, "Hopefully, I'll wake up soon and this will all be over."

"What? So you can wake up in that broom closet that's been your room since your parents were killed? So you can continue your life in the Brothel where you'll be turned into someone that's there for the pleasure of men? For you, this is the moment you've been waiting for! Release from that sorry excuse of a life that was forced on you! For me though? I'd rather be launching nets on that boy that's always in the fields."

An open-mouthed stare was the reply I got from Jai. Clearly she was shocked I knew about her existence before here. "Muffin?" she asked.

"Muffin and my combined efforts uncovered a lot of things, including files on each human they abducted. You must be grateful for the Elites coming when they did, saved you from getting raped. I would have been okay if they hadn't. Those slavers would have all been dead before sunrise."

"You were being sold into slavery, huh?"

"My mother had no choice. Either keep her life and be given a quarter of a million dollars, or die and still have her daughter be taken away. The greed and self-preservation won the battle. I bet they probably killed her once they knew I was long gone."

Jai stated obviously, "You must hate her, then."

"No," I murmured, "I don't, actually. It's simply human nature."

"Well I loathe all of humanity," she growled.

"You hate humanity for what reason? All because on mob killed your parents and then because you almost got raped? That's not a good excuse."

She shot me a look of anger and I didn't say another word. If she didn't want to talk about I wasn't going there. She was probably also angry about how I knew everything that was in her file. Including the day she reached "womanhood". I couldn't help myself, I laughed out loud. All the files of the girls had information on that. Did the Elites really need to know that? That could send a pervert's mind ablaze.

I was still laughing when the red-head barked, "What's so funny?"

I simply chuckled, "Oh nothing at all."


	5. Chapter 5

"I think we're landing," Fàté said, peering outside the cells bars. I sat up, head still aching from being dragged halfway through the ship by my hair. "How do you know?," I asked. She shrugged. "I just know." She sighed. I stood up and walked over to her. "I'm sorry Muffin got taken away, but being sad about it isn't going to bring her back." She turned to look at me, and I saw it wasn't sadness in her eyes but determination. "I'm not sad. I'm angry. I plan on breaking out of her the next time they open these doors and get her back," she growled.

She got her wish. The doors opened and three grunts walked in dragging a kart behind them, followed by an elite who stopped to guard the door. One of the grunts walked over and disengaged the energy bars, while the other two were taking plates of food, at least I think it was food, out of the kart and bringing them into the cell.

Suddenly, I saw a blur of movement behind me and then the grunts carrying the food were thrown across the room. The last grunt screamed and ran towards the door, forgetting to engage the energy bars. Fàté ran out, me close behind. The elite had been looking bored during the entire scene and at the chance to attack us, he yelled a war cry. I saw Fàté try to dodge him, but he was faster. He picked her up by her arm and threw her at the wall. I had managed to open the door while Fàté 'distracted' the guard, but when I heard Fàté scream, I turned around. The elite charged at me, yelling. I turned to run outside when three more elites came in. I thought I was going to be killed, because all three of them had energy swords. I ducked, but then realized they weren't coming for me. I saw the middle elite stab the berserking elite in the abdomen and then the other two started to dismember him. I saw Fàté crumbled in a heap in the corner, and I ran over to her. "Fàté? Are you okay?," I said, shaking her.

The three elites had finished dismembering the other, and they turned their attention to us. The middle one, a Zealot, spoke, his mandibles struggling with the words. "Get back into your cell," he demanded. I shook my head. "I think she's hurt." The elite walked over, picking me up by my neck, and put me back inside the cell. Before I could try to run out, he activated the energy bars. "We will exit slip space near Sangheilios in 2 hours. You should try to sleep, for you will be starting your training as soon as we land," the elite said, nodding to the other two. They ran over to Fàté, dragging her out of the room. "Where are you taking her?," I said, trying to see through the cell bars. "She will be treated in the medical bay," was all I heard before the door was shut and locked. "Great. Stuck in here alone with nothing but my thoughts," I said to myself. Then my stomach rumbled. "Can I still get some dinner?," I shouted.

Eventually, I fell asleep. I had some weird nightmares. First, I saw a glowing blue naked woman and some guy in bulky green armor, then an elite with strange grey armor, and then I could see an entire planet being glassed. But I saw it as if I was on the planet, trying to hide from the burning plasma. I could feel the plasma burning into my back, disintegrating my skin, frying my nerves.

When I woke up, Fàté had still not returned. And no one had brought me any dinner. I felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks. I didn't have enough energy to get up when an elite came in. He disengaged the cell door, and picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatos. Unfortunately, this caused me to hit my head on his shoulder pads, which were hard. I could feel a bump forming once again on my head, then I blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: We don't own the Halo franchise or anything like that**

**AN: Looking back we realized that Chapters 3, 4, and 5 didn't have POV posted. They are Jai, Fàté, Jai respectively.**

**Chapter VI**

POV: Fàté

Ugh, I don't think my head has ever hurt as much as this. But getting thrown into a metal wall by an Elite gone berserk can do that to a person. That was what happened, correct? I think so. He better not have knocked my IQ down even a point or he was going to have a _very_ painful death. It feels like I'm still lying on the metal floor but the light past my eyelids hints that I'm baking under a sun. I didn't want to get up so I just stayed still, trying to wish the headache away.

Something gripped my wrist and I about jumped out of my skin. "Don't move," commanded the person whose voice was having trouble speaking English. An Elite, eh? That's nice, I've had enough of them for the rest of my life. He pressed the skin flat so the pointy object would have a clear shot at my vein. But it never got the chance. My right leg flew out to the side and took the Elite off guard. He jumped sideways to avoid it, releasing my arm. I rolled to the left, falling off the metal surface and to the floor. I quickly jumped to my feet, a wild look in my neon green eyes.

I barked, "Stay away from me!" To further encourage that, I grabbed the nearest object I could lift and chunked it at the alien. He ducked as a medical kit flew at him.

"Calm down!" he growled as he stood back up, only to drop back down to avoid flying medical equipment. He gave an angry growl and jumped over the table and pinned me down. But that was a mistake for him, for I stabbed him in the arm with the needle I wielded. The result was instantaneous. He collapsed down, sedated by the anesthetic that he had been injected with. I squirmed out from under the Elite doctor and shook myself, trying to get rid of the shaky feeling. Injections just aren't my thing. Unsteadily, I wobbled towards the door, still feeling the pain from my earlier blackout. The corridor was completely void of life apart from me yet I felt that unmistakable feeling of being watched. Slowly and cautiously, I made my way through the ship. Eerie that no one was here. On and on the ship went and not a single sign of life appeared. Until I heard a voice. A very recognizable voice.

My boots made shallow booming noises as I ran towards the sound. I erupted into the room and stared at the holographic woman sitting in fetal position. "01001110 01101111," she muttered as her form vibrated, loosing stability.

"Muffin!" I called, running up to her.

Shakily, she tilted her head up at me, eyes unfocused. "Detest not that is not, for what is not there turns away from those who are. Salvation has departed and the lost are ensnared in the web of deceit that has been woven, fallen prey to the weavers."

I snatched up her disk and flipped it over, popping open a hatch on the back. A quick prod there and a switch flip there and her upside down form about fizzed out. I held her right side up and she cocked her head to the side. "False prophet, must you come back to me? I have already fallen victim to you, yet you must torture me more!"

I sighed and slipped the disk into my pocket. I'll have to fix her later. Let's just hope that she doesn't devour her own mind by then.

I turned around to be met face to face with two Hunters standing in the doorway. I submitted as one of them lifted me off the ground by my arm and carried me away. It didn't take long for the feeling in my arm to deteriorate and my arm probably would have gotten permanent damage if it held me up any longer. But it dropped me at the feet—or rather hoofs—of an Elite. He pulled me up by my shirt and stared me down. But he just pushed me along my way over to a group of children, the remainder of the humans kidnapped.

A red-headed girl pushed her way to the outside of the group and met me with an irritated expression. "Where have you been? The Elites have been in a frenzy to find you! And stabbing an Elite doctor with a needle isn't the best thing to do, you know."

I chuckled, "I know, but I wasn't going to let it inject _me_. Besides, I found Muffin. Then a pair of Hunters discovered me and brought me here. I imagine that we're about to be taken off."

"Mm," she said as she turned around, eyes searching aimlessly. An aim was taken up as she stared at a crisscross pattern burned into the metal ceiling. "What did that?" she wondered in awe.

"I did." Jai looked at me, questions burning in her space black eyes. I explained, "The Forerunner weapon, I accidently shot it. Luckily it was pointing upwards and not at any of the Elites."

She was quiet and the metaphoric wheels were turning inside her head. "Is that why when I activated they swarmed me?"

"Probably," I said. A large door opened and Elites pushed us outside. Jai and I were the last humans to step out onto the dock in a port. It was huge and other ships were also docked. The sky was red yet the ground reminded me of pictures I've seen of Earth. We strolled down the walk to a massing group of humans. We exchanged looks as we were merged into the steadily growing group. People were frightened, angry, baffled, ecstatic, and many more expressions dotted the number of humans.

A voice perked up, "Oh what dark, tempest night has befallen this maiden?" I turned my back to the aliens and pulled out the disk from my pocket. Muffin flashed up and giggled. "Don't worry, that was just to mess with you."

"Well be careful!" I scolded, "I don't want you taken away again!"

She tilted her head, "Do you want to know what I was going to say?"

"Yes," I sighed, "please."

She giggled again but I have her a stern look and she took on a more serious look. "We've landed on Sangheilios, homeworld of the Elites."

"That's nice," replied Jai, looking out across the horizon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII**

POV: Ashley

"She's….too…heavy..," a distant voice grunted, seeming to struggle with the words. Wait…what was someone doing in my room? Opening my eyes, I saw four small figures, each one holding on to one of my limbs, dragging me across a large room.

"Hurry up!" another voice yelled impatiently.

Suddenly, I realized that the figures were little aliens and they were dragging me across a room. I could feel a rush of energy when I saw that they were dragging me to a make shift stage with bigger aliens surrounding it. I think I'm going to call them Mr. Whatever-color-their-clothes-are. I grabbed the two nearest, the ones holding my arms, and squeezed until I could feel their skulls disintegrate beneath my hand. I threw them back and kicked the two holding my feet, jumping up.

But I'm clumsy. I ended up tripping while trying to get up and I stumbled over the grunt bodies right into a very angry looking Mr. Blue. He grabbed me by my collar and threw me onto the stage, which I have never seen anyone do to someone as big as me before.

"Pick up the sword," he yelled at me, tentacles on his mouth twitching in anger. I didn't want to know what else he would do to me if I refused, so I picked up the sword handle.

Almost instantly, the sword hummed to life in my hands, small fibers of energy growing and becoming solid, until I held a 4 foot long sword in my hand.

"Grab her!" the elite yelled.

"Stay back!" I said, waiving the sword around in the air. The elites stopped running, and now were advancing on me slowly. I started to panic. "Leave me alone!" I yelled, closing my eyes. I wish I had a gun, I thought.

Almost as soon as I thought this, I could feel the sword moving, and then heard something like a gun.

I felt blood spray over me as the Mr. Red nearest to me collapsed in a heap of disembodied limbs. While I was still in shock, the remaining Mr.'s ripped the sword from my hand and threw me on the floor, hog tying me with glowy chains.

"Hold her down while I inject the anesthetic," the elite said.

"Wait! What's an ant-e-set-ick?" I yelled, but he stabbed me in the arm with a really weird needle.

"Good-night," I heard him say before I fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter VIII**

POV: Ashley

I could feel myself moving, but all I could see was blackness. Then I realized my eyes were closed.

I was back in the big room, though I don't know if I'd actually left in the first place. Someone had cleaned up the blood and body parts, and I noticed the stage was gone. But the room was buzzing, quite literally. The whole room was vibrating, and I wondered if were moving.

"Get up human!" a voice behind me demanded. I sat up and looked behind me. Something hit me hard across the face.

"I said get up!" the voice demanded again, sounding angry.

As I struggled to get up, still rubbing my face, I could hear Mr.'s barking orders, and ships moving around inside; I think I also heard an alarm going off somewhere in the distance.

"Make sure she doesn't move," the Mr. Red said to someone behind him. I turned around and saw two really big aliens. They shall be Mr. and Mrs. Fluffy. 'Cause they're fluffy.

"Are you sure it is female?" a Mr. Blue said, peering at me.

"Well….no, but its file says it's female," he replied, turning towards me. I tried to look like I was focused on anything but.

"Tell Zura to bring the rest of the humans to the hangar. We will be home soon," he ordered, walking out of the 'hangar'.

"You, human! Stay here. Move a muscle and the Lekgolo have permission to smash your head in," he said, pulling out something that resembled a walkie-talkie. "Zura, bring the humans," he said with distaste. Someone replied, and he put away the walkie-talkie.

"So…where are we?" I said, eyeing the hunters. The Mr. Blue focused his attention on me.

"We have entered the atmosphere around our home planet, Sangheilios," he said, pride creeping into his voice.

More humans were coming? Yay, new friends!

A door opened near us, and a Mr. Red, Zura, walked in, followed by about fifty more humans. Boys, girls, all of them probably much older than me. They all looked scared, but there were some that looked like they were gonna run.

"Separate the males from the females. Males go in the Spirits, females go in the Phantoms," Zura said to the elites nearest him. He looked at me.

"You can walk, can you not?" he said.

I nodded, not quite understanding.

"Good. I don't want to risk the rest of my crew."

I walked over to where the girls were beginning to board the Phantoms, but the Mr. Blue from earlier stopped me.

"Males go in Spirits," he said, pointing to the U shaped drop ships on the other end of the hangar.

"But I'm a girl!," I protested. His mouth tentacles twitched, and then started shaking. I couldn't tell if he was trying to laugh or growl.

"This is no time for jokes, human. Now go get in the Spirit," he said, turning around and ignoring me.

I continued arguing with him and trying to board the Phantom, until he pulled a plasma rifle on me.

"Males go in Spirits!," he yelled, spitting in my face.

"I am a GIRL!" I screamed back, pulling my hand back to punch him in the face.

This finally got the attention of Zura, who ran towards us followed by two Mr. Blues.

He pulled his rifle and I lowered my hand.

"Ado! What is going on?" he said, eyes darting from me to Ado.

Ado shrugged, pointing a finger at me.

"This human male keeps trying to board the Phantom," he said, staring daggers at me.

"That human is female, Ado," Zura said, trying hard not to laugh.

"But…," Ado sputtered, looking confused.

"She is female, Ado. Just let her board the Phantom," he said calmly, walking away.

"Get on the Phantom," he growled, looking defeated.

I shrugged and walked into the Phantom, which was very crowded. Girls were everywhere, crying and begging to be taken home.

"Um…can I get on a less crowded ship?" I yelled before the door shut in my face.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter IX**

POV: Skull

Stupid split mouths. I had almost got away, till one practically landed on my back. And they took my mini nuke! It took me months to make that thing and I'd had big plans for it.

"Human, get off the Spirit," a blue armored split mouth said, pulling out a plasma rifle.

I snorted. "I'm certain you didn't bring me all the way to this ghastly red planet just to shoot me."

He hesitated, then charged at me and suddenly we were in free fall towards the planet's surface.

We were at least 20 meters from the ground. Now, I'm not exactly the athletic type, but I have the reflexes of a cat, you have to if you want to survive when one of your homemade bombs decides to go off. I managed to stop spinning and place my feet below me.

"Ouch," I said after hitting the ground.

"Get to the auditorium with the rest of your incompetent humans," split mouth, obviously having survived our wonderful fall. How unfortunate.

"Fine," I sighed, walking in the direction he had pointed.

The 'auditorium' was more like a coliseum. I had never seen a larger building in my life. No stadium, auditorium, or gym on Eridanus II could compete with this behemoth of a building. It could probably hold more than a million people, but it currently housed about 1000 abducted teens.

"Go sit with the other humans," split mouth said behind me, pressing the rifle into my back.

I shrugged, walking towards the back of the mass of people. I could hear people whispering and muffled crying, and a few boys were harassing a lone elite, until he pulled out duel plasma rifles.

"You gonna sit down or stand there gawking at air?" a voice said behind me. God, split mouths are so impatient!

"Shut up you stupid split mouth!" I yelled, slowly turning around.

All I saw was a blur of red before I was thrown to the floor, arms pinned behind my back, face pressed into the ground.

"What did you call me?" the voice said calmly. I think I would have preferred to get yelled at than the calmness of the voice.

"You heard me," I said, coughing.

I wiggled my arms, but they were being held with a death grip. This was one tough split mouth. Yet, it felt lighter than the split mouths seem to weigh. I started choking, then realized something was blocking my windpipe. My vision started to blur, and I could hear muffled shouting. The weight was pulled off my back and I started greedily sucking in air.

"Are you okay?" someone said, pulling me up.

"What the fuck?" I gasped, turning to look.

Standing next to me was a creepy looking girl with long white hair and radioactive green eyes, looking concerned.

"I'm so sorry! Jai is having a really bad day. I think she might have a concussion and-," she started, but I cut her off.

"It's ok. I think we're all just a little tense. I mean, we've been abducted by aliens," I said, rubbing my neck.

She sighed. "Well, I guess Jai will be setting with the elites for awhile."

Jai, the small red head who had tried to kill me, was stuck between two elites, with one standing behind her, glaring at me with pitch black eyes. I felt like she was looking through me.

"Don't look into her eyes. It will make you feel like she can see into your soul," freaky eyed girl said, as if reading my mind.

I pulled my eyes away, and sat down.

"I'm Fate," the girl said, extending her hand. I looked at her and realized she had a black streak in her hair.

"Hi," I said, ignoring her hand.

She shrugged and turned to look at the center of the coliseum. A huge, silver elite had walked to a stage in the center of the coliseum.

The elite looked absolutely terrifying. He had massive, broad shoulders, long teeth sharper than steel, legs that could probably match the speed of a cheetah, and a deep, scary voice. All the other elites looked like dolls in comparison.

"Welcome, humans, to Sangheilios, your new home. I am the current Arbiter, Ripa Mortumee," he said, making eye contact with every person in the room before continuing.

"You are all wondering why you are here, correct?" he said. A few people nodded, "it is because we plan to train you. But I should probably start at the beginning," he said.

"About 100 years ago, the Covenant was led by the Prophets, and three major ones. Truth, Mercy, and Regret ordered the extinction of you race. You had destroyed sacred Forunner artifacts that would help us travel along the path of the False Great Journey. The Arbiter then, Thel 'Vadam, led a Civil war against the three Prophets after we discovered the truth about the Great Journey. Then the hierarchs replaced us as their protectors, after the Prophet of Regret was killed by the demon, with the Jiralhanea. Thel decided to help the humans destroy them, because the fate of the universe affected everyone. Thel and the last of his race, the demon or Spartan as you called them, killed Truth and stopped the inhalation of the entire galaxy."

He paused a few minutes to let that sink in, then he continued.

"Although the three hierarchs were killed, new prophets have arisen to lead the foolish through the Great Journey. The Jiralhanea are their honor guards, and the Kig-Yar and Yanme'e are their servants. They continue to try to activate the remaining Halo rings and destroy us all. I would much rather have slit my throat than have to admit all of this, but I am needed here. We are losing this war. Even with the aid of the formidable Mgalekgolo and the millions of breeding Unggoy, we have had little success."

His speech seemed to take forever, but eventually even he was silent. Someone waved their hand.

"What does all that have to do with us? Why not just ask the UNSC to help?," a boy asked, voice quivering.

The Arbiter hesitated. "Forunner artifacts do not work for us as the do for humans. We need you to fight on our behalf, to be _our_ demons. The human alliance does not know about the new prophets. We had hoped we could crush them and be done with it but they have proven more formidable than their predecessors. Not all of you will finish training, I am afraid, but those who do will be more fierce than any Sangheili, and will thirst for the enemies blood," he replied.

"When will the training begin?," someone behind me said, and I realized it was Jai. Everyone turned around to look at her as if she were crazy. I turned and saw that Jai was standing, despite the three elites with duel plasma rifles pointed at her.

At first I thought the Arbiter was choking, but then I realized he was laughing deeply.

"Right now," he replied," we will test all of you to find out how you fight and equip you with the correct teacher to train you."

Some of the teens began whispering again, and a few started crying.

"I'd like to go first," Jai said.

The elites surrounding her looked stunned, and a few lowered their weapons in shock.

"As you wish," the Arbiter replied," choose your combatant."

Jai smiled, only one of her pitch black eyes visible beneath her mane of red hair. She pointed a bony finger at the Arbiter.

"You," she said.

The Arbiter laughed again, and two energy swords came to life in his hands.

"It would be my pleasure," he growled.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter X**

POV: Fàté

Oh Jai! You made a mistake on this one, you hot-head! She had to have a death wish if she wanted to fight the Arbiter. Yet she walked through the mass, chin held high in her arrogant act. She about ripped the Energy Sword's handle from the Elite presenting it to her. It flared to life in her grip. A boy who was standing too close jumped back to as he almost was her first victim. She stared at it for a moment, the light given off it reflecting on her eyes that seemed to have been pooled straight from the depths of the cold, dark space. She looked wild—possessed, if you will—as she stared at the alien weapon. That look she had made me shudder. She was poised to kill, and would gladly do that to anyone in her way.

She turned on her heel and marched towards her self-brought doom. "Either she gets killed by the Arbiter or the other Elites if she somehow kills him."

A voice perked up form my pocket, "I bet she loses some hair."

I looked down. "Hmm, I bet she hits her head."

Muffin giggled, "We're losing our minds, aren't we?"

"I'm not going to state the obvious."

Jai had made her way to the state, still standing tall. The strongest Elite with two swords versus a bloodthirsty human girl with only one. This wasn't going to end well. Nope, not at all. The Arbiter glared at the red-headed girl, growling, "Ready to face defeat, impudent human?"

Her back was turned to me, but her voice said it all. It was caked in pure bloodlust. "Sure about that?"

In a flash, the Arbiter rushed her, one sword poised to strike. Jai rolled left, popping back onto her feet and was facing him in a flash. She was quick. Very quick. She made a jab with her sword, but the Arbiter intercepted in and used brute force to throw her across the platform. She slammed on her back, but didn't waste a second to catch her breath. She rolled over her head and came back onto her feet. She was. . .good. But the Arbiter was known as being beyond great. He rounded on her, seething with anger. He must being thinking how much of a fool he looked up here. And I would admit he did look horrible getting beaten by a girl human. You'd think anyone could become the Arbiter. He sliced with his right arm, his other sword ready to burn her when she went that way. But she surprised us all. She dropped to her knees and slid under the sword, her serious face illuminated by the light emanating from it. Her empty hand planted on the ground when she made it in the clear to give her leverage so she could pull her legs out from under her. By now the Arbiter was seriously mad. Yep, she wasn't going to get out of here alive. He went after her again, but she was ready and waiting. Her right foot slid forward while her left stayed locked. She thrust her sword forward, going to intercept her opponent's. She had placed it perfectly. It was he either let go of the handle or he'd lose his hand. He yanked her arm back just in time for her to miss it, but she still got his sword. It was flung off the stage and into the crowd, almost killing another Elite.

She then pivoted away so she could jump out of his reach. She was coiled, like a snake about to strike. Poisonous, dreadfully poisonous. In a desperate last attempt to kill her, the Arbiter chunked his last sword at her. It soared towards her while time seemed to slow down. Tick. . .tock. . .tick. . .tock. . .

Jai fell to the ground, her hair fanning out above her. The sword kept on coming, going straight through part of her hair and searing a cut into her left arm. She collapsed to the ground, head slamming on the platform. The flying sword impaled into a Grunt's face, coming out its back. Her teeth were clenched as she tried to ignore the pain. She slowly stood up and faced the Arbiter, still holding her sword.

"Human," the Arbiter questioned, "you fight well for one of your species. You'll make a fine warrior. As a reward for doing so well, you can volunteer another human to fight."

That eerie feeling. . .like I was having a precognition feeling about what was going to happen. She turned around and pointed straight at me, those black void eyes piercing my soul. "Her, Fàté, the girl with the white and black hair."

Well there goes my life.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter XI**

POV: Skull

"I'm glad I'm not against her," said a blond kid in front of me. I could see Jai as she walked calmly back to her seat behind me, ignoring a split mouth doctor as he tried to clean her wound.

"Get away from me, filth," I heard her growl. The doctor cringed, but continued to clean the cut. Bad idea. Jai turned on the doctor, and punched him in the 'middle' of his face. He flew backwards, dropping the bloodied cloths and rolled all the way down to the center of the arena. None of the split mouths stood up to help him, or even acknowledge his existence. He struggled, getting up, and walked out of the stadium, not bothering with Jai again.

"Well that was interesting," I said to Jai. She just stared at the center of the arena where Fate was trying to escape the Arbiters energy swords, ignoring me still.

"I need some popcorn," I thought I heard her murmur, but I couldn't be for sure.

I turned back to the center, and watched as Fate escaped death again and again, barely avoiding the Arbiter. I could see sweat beading around her forehead, and her legs were beginning to wobble.

"Use Muffin!," I shouted at the top of my lungs. Some kids turned to look at me, but the split mouths continued to ignore me, watching the fight with interest. Fate looked at me in confusion, but she jumped into action when she saw the Arbiter charging towards her. She reached down into one of her pockets and pulled out a small holodisc, which began to glow a light blue at the center, and a huge hologram appeared, its head almost reaching the ceiling of the coliseum. The image was blurred, but I could see that it was a huge, bulky figure of something that looked human.

"Demon!," the Arbiter yelled, backing up until he ran into the wall.

Demon? Wait…didn't he say something about demons earlier? Oh wait! Spartans! So that's what that thing was supposed to be….I could see why the split mouths were scared of them. The hologram began to walk towards the Arbiter, yet the ground did not tremble beneath it, and there was no sound. The Arbiter seemed to notice this almost immediately.

"What heresy is this?" he yelled, charging the hologram. He raised his swords to strike at the hologram, but he merely passed through it. "A hologram?" he growled.

Fate began to fiddle with the holodisc as the hologram became more blurred and then disappeared all together.

"Muffin!," she yelled, fiddling with the holodisc, which had turned from a light blue to a dark red and started to smoke. She didn't notice the Arbiter charging at her full speed.

"Fate, look out!" I yelled, jumping up. The split mouths started moving towards me, but I ignored them. The Arbiter deactivated his swords at the last minute and merely tackled Fate, causing her to drop the holodisc. Dust was kicked up everywhere, and I couldn't see anything. Then the dust cleared, and I could see the Arbiter standing over Fate, who was unconscious, with a disgusted look on his face. Then he noticed the holodisc, which he picked up.

"Hepa!," he yelled angrily, looking into one of the many doors along the base of the arena. A gold split mouth ran into the arena, stopping to bow at the Arbiters feet. "Why was this not taken from the human girl when you captured her?" he yelled, not caring whether everyone heard.

"We did take the item from her, but it would appear she stole it back while we were busy with loading the rest of the humans onto the ships," he said, still kneeling.

The Arbiter growled, and backhanded Hepa across the face. "You allowed a HUMAN GIRL to steal an object among your own ship?" he screamed, walking towards Hepa, who had not risen from the ground. He picked him up by the throat, looking him in the eyes. "You know what you must do." I saw Hepa's shoulders sag, and the Arbiter released him. "As punishment, you must use your own energy sword to mark yourself, where everyone can see."

"Mark himself? What did he mean by that?" someone whispered.

Hepa nodded, and pulled out an energy sword, and began using the flat of the blades to put crisscrossing marks up and down his forearms, where the armor did not reach. He grunted in pain but his hands never shook, and when he was finished, the sound of burned flesh hung in the air and the split mouths had become uneasy.

"You will return to your ship, and you will continue with your original mission. But," he added," you will not eat again until your mission is completed." He turned to some of the guards, who grabbed Hepa by the arms, which caused him to cry out in pain because the marks were still fresh, and they dragged him out. Two more guards came and took Fate away, who had bruises starting to form on her arms and legs. They also took Muffin's still smoking holodisc. The Arbiter turned to the rest of us and said simply, "Who's next?


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter XII**

POV: Fàté

Why was there this intense feeling of fear thrumming through my body? That only happened when. . .

The medic Elite never saw it coming. Apparently word hadn't gotten around about my condition yet. My foot slammed right into the area under his mandibles, sending him flailing to the metal floor. I grabbed the nearest object with a good size of mass—a medical kit—and pounced. I repeatedly beat the kit against his face until I was well sure he was knocked unconscious. Adrenaline is a human's best friend.

"What is this?" Ah, back up. What a pain. I chunked the kit at the new arrival as I pelted down the medical bay. He deftly dodged the projectile and gave pursuit. Even when being pushed faster by adrenaline he was on me quickly. I threw myself over the top of a table, gliding over the slick, metal surface. The Elite made a leap for me. Worst possible mistake. And exactly what I wanted him to do. I pressed the button on the control panel that triggered the restraints to activate. He squirmed to the best of his ability while I calmly walked over to another table. I snatched up a metal tray and went back to my prisoner.

I smiled down at him, raising the tray above my head. "Brain can always beat brawn." The tray bent on the first strike, making him loose consciousness already. But I struck him again anyway, and then a third time. I was so engrossed that I didn't hear the angry third party coming onto the scene.

All of a sudden I was picked up by the back of my shirt and growled at by the newest Sangheili. "If you don't behave, we'll destroy your AI construct."

I met his eyes with a completely serious face. I sternly replied, "Anyone destroy Muffin and I'll make new Flood to unleash it upon this world."

Fear flashed onto his face for a brief second. I'm sure he knew I was quite capable of doing just that. He snarled in an attempt to scare away any bluffs I might have been pulling. But I didn't flinch. I was dead serious about my threat. He let go so he could go free his restrained comrade.

"You're actually violent on the inside, aren't you?" I looked over my shoulder at the two familiar faces who stood in the open doorway.

I chuckled, "Nothing like you Jai. It's just that I have a condition known as trypanophobia."

The boy raised an eyebrow and asked, "That's the fear of what exactly?"

I strolled over to a table that had several syringes. In one quick movement of my hand I slung them all into the wall. When they shattered I felt so much safer.

The Elite warned, "Human!"

I ignored him and looked back at my two visitors. "Injection and hypothermic needles. Oh, and what was your name? I don't think you ever told me."

He grunted, "Skull."

Jai crossed her arms with a huff. "Do you even notice your hand is bandaged?"

I brought it up to my face. "The adrenaline had been numbing the pain but I'm feeling it now." I paused as I thought hatched in my mind. "You know, if the Aribter had come after me with a needle than I probably would have beaten him."

Jai's scowl deepened. "Don't ever bet on my life with your rampant AI ever again."

"Actually," I corrected, "we only bet if you'd hit your head or lose some hair."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter XIII**

POV: Fàté

"Did that just move?"

Everyone was staring at Skull's tray and the pile of "food" that was on it. I gaped, "I'm positive that _thing_ tried to latch itself to your fork." And by fork, I meant the small, three-pronged metal object that resembled a trident. But calling it a fork was much easier than a hand trident or something else.

Jai mumbled, "What are they trying to feed us?"

The hulking mountain of a girl leaned forward and pleaded, "Can we keep it?"

"No," the fiery-haired girl snapped.

Skull sighed, "I bet it'd lodge itself in our throats if we tried to eat it."

I cautiously moved my own fork towards the mess on his tray. A few inches away from it the glob reached forward and snagged the utensil from my hands. There was synchronized flinching and jaw dropping. After a few moments, Jai made an attempt to yank the fork back. There was obviously more resistance than she thought but she got the object back. Everyone started at the orange creature still wrapped around it. "Why was there a Lekgolo in Skull's food?" I wondered out loud.

He muttered, "I'm still not eating it."

"I'm not going to eat mine, either," I declared.

Jai snorted, "Whiners." She shoved a fork into the pile of food on her tray. The other three gawked as she shoveled in a mouthful.

"Why'd you eat the wormy?" Ashley cried. Jai's black eyes widened before coughing it back onto her tray. "It's okay, wormy!" she comforted the alien.

The Lekgolo squirmed into Jai's pile of food, disappearing from sight quickly. She ground her teeth together as she glared at the pile in front of her. To end the awkward silence, I spoke up, "Let's just skip this meal."

"But I'm hungry!" complained Ashley. To prove her point, she grabbed a handful of food and stuffed it into her mouth.

I stood up and took a step away from the girl. "Excuse me, but I have to retch."

A passing Elite growled, "Sit back down and eat, human!"

I gingerly returned to my seat, eyeing the food in front of my suspiciously. I looked over at the redhead and asked, "Hey, give me your fork. You took mine." I snatched the utensil as it soared at me. "I'm going to regret this," I groaned, sticking it into my food. I brought it up to my mouth and took a small bite. I shuddered, "That is disgusting."

"No it's not!" the silver-eyed girl countered. She proceeded to eat more of the junk we had been served.

Jai stabbed at her food, probably aiming to get the Lekgolo. Skull swore under his breath before eating a small amount. He shuddered but shook it off, going to take another bite. I clenched my empty hand and then followed suit. While it was completely repulsive my hunger soon won over. But I only ate about a third before the sick feeling in my stomach murdered any thoughts of eating the "food" in front of me. Jai had finally found the Lekgolo, but stabbing it had just gotten its bodily fluids in her food. But Ashley didn't care seeing as how she asked to eat it. She actually asked to eat not only Jai's but also the rest of Skull's and my share. She had a bottomless and iron stomach.

"Hey, Jai," Skull began, "I think that Hunter is glaring at you."

"It probably knows that she killed that Lekgolo," I explained.

She snorted, "Should I care?"

I sighed, "Probably not. I bet you could hold your own. Not to mention if you get Ashley to help you."

"Exactly."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter XIV**

POV: Jai

After the horror that was dinner, we were brought to our rooms. Skull had been taken with the other guys to another wing of the keep, while all of the girls were here. Most of them crying their eyes out.

"And they're supposed to be Spartan ancestors?," I mumbled to myself.

"What?," Fàté said, raising her eyebrow.

"Nothing," I said. Annoying girl.

Our rooms were small, with four stone slabs, each with one silk pillow and a small blanket. We hadn't seen a window since we had left the cafeteria. After four girls were herded in, the doors were shut and locked with a weird key that looked like it was made out of pure energy.

"Wonderful, we are going to be stuck with either snot nose brats or cry babies," I said, crossing my arms.

"If they're snot nose brats, you can beat them to a pulp. Then they'll all be cry babies," Fàté said.

"I planned on it."

Since Ashley was so huge, and all the other girls refused to share a room with her, she would have gotten a room all to herself. Except she couldn't fit through the door.

"Take her down to the prison cell. I'm sure she will fit in one of those," a tall, golden elite said. Two red elites appeared and escorted her back the way we had come.

"Hello Mr. Reds," I heard her say as she walked away. I stifled a laugh.

More girls were ushered down the hall, and eventually, Fàté and I were the only ones left. We were shoved into the last room, the door firmly locked behind us.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about anyone crying," Fàté said.

"Yeah," I scoffed, "at least something good came out of all this."

We both chose to sleep on the top bunks. Fàté was scared that the stone slab would fall on her if she slept on the bottom. Me? I just liked being able to see my surroundings from high places. I grabbed the pillow and the blanket from the bottom bunk to make my slab more comfortable.

"Well, hopefully tomorrow I can get Muffin back and we can start devising a plan to get off this planet," Fàté murmured, falling asleep.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that was never going to happen. I doubt the elites were stupid enough to give a human one of their AI constructs back. Muffin was probably already dissected and if anyone called for Fàté, it would be to build another one that the elites could use on their ships.

POV: Skull

"Everyone up! Get out here now or we'll feed you to the Lekgolo!," a voice yelled, practically in my ear. A light was shined in my eyes and I was jerked off my slab by cold, alien hands. "Hey! What do you-," I started, then realized where I was. In a small dark room with three other guys, and a golden split-mouth staring me in the face. I had learned the hard way not to stare into their eyes, to keep my head down. I had a bruise on my chest to prove it.

"You will start your training today. The Arbiter expects you to give us your best, even though we know you are just weak, pitiful humans and your best is matched by a grunt deacon," the split-mouth said, herding us out into the hall.

Farther down the hall, the Arbiter was examining us, flanked on both sides by two jet black split – mouths.

"Recruits," he yelled, trying to get our attention. We all looked at him.

"Today you will begin your training. I will not be doing it myself, however much I would like to, I am much too busy."

A new split-mouth appeared behind him, his maroon armor dented and his face covered in battle scars. Or what could count as his face, anyway.

"We will test your endurance. And discover if any of you are 'special' at all. On the other side of the mountain that this keep is built on is another keep. Your job is to get there. You have one week. You will not be provided with any supplies. You must find what you need. Be warned. There are horrible creatures the likes of which you have never seen in the mountains. And you must get to the keep without one of us capturing you," he yelled.

Wow. If this planet wasn't a complete desert and I knew where to find a ship, this would be the perfect opportunity to escape.

The split mouths started herding us out of the keep, where we met up with the girls. A lot of them were crying.

"Babies," I mumbled.

"Begin!"

Chaos erupted. Everyone began scrambling towards the mountain. I had to claw my way through the crowd, most of them not knowing where to go or what to do. I was the first person to get to the top. That's when I realized why they had given us a week. The mountain went on for miles. I couldn't even see the top of the next keep. I stayed on my perch, watching as everyone else finally climbed the mountain, scrambling for the horizon. Then someone pushed me.

I managed to break my fall with my arms rather than my face.

"What the hell?" I said, getting to my feet.

Another boy, maybe 14, with short blond hair and a mess of freckles stood on my perch.

"Ha! You should see your face! I actually thought you were a girl at fir-," he started.

I grabbed his leg, dragging him down the rock. He kicked at me, but having no nerves in my left arm, I didn't even notice. Once I had pulled him off, I started to punch him. With my right arm, of course. I didn't want to kill him.

He was surprisingly agile, he managed to squirm out of my grasp and jump away before I could grab at him again. He sprang towards me and head butted me in the chest.

"Oof," I gasped as the air rushed out of my lungs.

Then he started kicking my shins.

I grabbed his shoulders, preparing to throw him when someone pushed us apart and strolled between us.

"Do you mind?" I muttered. Then I saw who it was. The boy, unfortunately, did not recognize her.

"Stupid bitch!," he roared, reaching for her long red hair.

The girl turned around quickly, using the momentum of her turn to back hand him. He fell to the ground, hands covering his face.

"What the fu-," he managed to yell out before she kneed him in the groin. Even I winced.

Without a word, she turned around and continued walking.

I ran after her, leaving the boy crying on the ground.

"Hey Jai!," I said. She ignored me.

"So, um….where's that weird chick? Fate or whatever her name is?"

"Fàté. The Arbiter took her this morning. Probably because of her AI," she said, glaring at me.

"Hey, I was just trying to help. I didn't want to see her get killed any more than she wanted to be there," I said defensively.

She stopped walking.

"Oh really?" she said, turning around, "How did you know she even had an AI?"

Oh crap. "Uh…I heard you guys talking about it?" I tried. No luck.

"We never talked about Muffin near other people. If you didn't notice, I didn't even sit near Fàté," she growled.

"Oh well, I…umm..," I stuttered.

"Why didn't you use your flamethrower to kill that elite?" she said.

My blood ran cold. How did she know?

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said, trying to keep my voice calm and averting my eyes from her watchful gaze.

She grabbed my left arm.

"I'm talking about your robotic arm. I also know that you have an AI," she said.

Shit. I tried to pull my arm back, but she had it in a death grip.

"How did you find out?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out or I will kill you."

Fàté. That freak probably saw right through my fake skin with those creepy green eyes.

Jai had let go of my arm and had already walked about 20 yards before I even finished the thought.

"Wait!," I yelled, catching up to her.

"What do you want now, cyborg?"

"Why don't we travel together?"

"I'd rather be by myself. I'm more of a lone wolf. And I don't trust machines."

I ignored that last part. "Snipers are better in pairs."

She sighed. "Fine. But we travel at my pace. We've already wasted enough time."

I grinned. This was going to be fun.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: (Donut) Okay to the one person actually reading this story, we are terribly sorry for being gone so long. One of our chapters was lost and we didn't communicate very well after that. But we have finally picked the story back up and have already planned WAY ahead into its future. Hopefully we won't make you wait so long again :)**

Chapter XV

Fàté

"Do you mind telling me why I am being taken somewhere else? Is it because of my intelligence?"

The Sangheili warrior snapped, "Quiet, human!"

I rolled my nuclear green eyes. "I didn't ask for your opinion on the matter. As I recall, I asked you where I was being taken."

The other escort narrowed his eyes but replied, "Interrogation."

We stopped in front of a door that opened a few moments later. Inside were several more Elites, including the Arbiter. His mandibles twitched at the sight of us, but I hardly noticed. My eyes were locked on to the blue image on a podium next to the Arbiter. It was glitching badly, the mad scientist holding her head as she spouted nonsense. I took a step forward, mouth opening to call out to her but the Arbiter stepped in front of her and stifled it. I allowed the two Elites to lead me into the room and to the head of the entire operations.

"Human," he growled, "How did you acquire an AI construct?"

I met his gaze unflinchingly. "I didn't _acquire_ her. I made her when I ten years old from my own brain."

"Why do you think I would believe that? You lived in a small farming community with no government protection."

I clamped my hands behind my back, the corners of my mouth twitching upward. "My, my Arbiter. I thought you would have figured it out by now." He snorted, but didn't interrupt. "Only two other people knew about Muffin. They were my mother and my tutor, Xavier."

"Xavier was an AI," he commented, "That obviously came from an outside party. He could have told any authorized personnel."

I raised a white eyebrow. "Oh really? Do you really think I would want to be taken away by ONI? It was an easy hack to make sure he was unable to mention or hint at my AI. It seems I did a good job at hiding her, seeing as you knew of him but not of Muffin."

"If this is all such an _easy task_, then you can make us AIs as well."

"Only if I am allowed my AI Muffin as an assistant."

His hand closed around my throat as he shouted, "You have the audacity to make demands in your situation?"

I coughed, "Indeed, because I am the only one capable of making you AIs."

With a grunt he dropped me onto the floor, clearly losing this round. "Get up! We will start immediately." Silence stretched before he barked, "I said get up!"

"Wort, wort, wort!"

Everyone stood aghast as the girl jerked to her feet with the Sangheili battle cry. A look had entered her neon green eyes, crazed and detached.

An Elite howled, "Is she mocking us?"

She locked eyes with the Arbiter, an insane smile on her face. "You are my bitch."

He hefted her up by the collar of her shirt. "I will break you!"

"All your base are belong to us!"

"Blasphemy!" another Elite yelled.

He brought the teenager's face closer to his. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Elaborate."

He frowned—as much as someone with mandibles for a mouth can—and added, "Why are you spouting these seemingly random phrases?"

"Elaborate."

"What?"

"Would you like fries with that shake?"

"Arbiter," one of the Elites began, "it's obvious she is as broken as her AI."

He dropped her to her feet and turned around to spot me. He let out a roar. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Elaborate," I said as I hurriedly got out of the databases. His fist slammed down next to my slightly taken apart holodisc, not buying it for a second. I wouldn't have, either, seeing as my image wasn't the same as Muffin's. I didn't have the 'mad' to my scientist look.

"I demand an answer."

I sighed, "Because of my lack of resources when making Muffin, there was a. . .slight side effect that appears to switch our minds. I am still looking into the matter myself."

Before he could reply the door opened and an Elite rushed in. "Arbiter! We have a problem! Our surveillance team has reported a large human is giving the trackers a problem. Our tranquilizers are having difficulty knocking her unconscious."

I shook my body, aware that Muffin's ranting was broken up as she was sent back into her damaged holodisc. The Arbiter made a sound like an exasperated groan. "Please tell me it's not that brute of a girl." The Elite simply nodded.

My eyes flickered to his. "I can take care of that problem. All I need is a Phantom and a Lekgolo worm."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI

Skull/Jai

We had only been traveling for two days, yet the keep was already in sight. I couldn't believe it when Jai had said the keep was west. How could she possibly know that?

"Everyone else is heading north," I gasped the day before, running behind her. She had insisted we run at least 3/4ths the way there.

"Everyone else is a dumbass," she said, not even the least bit tired," but at least the Elites will follow them. They left a big enough trail."

Of course, if we got lost, having Elites hunting us wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"Are you questioning my navigation skills?" she asked when I mentioned this.

"No…..well, yes I am," I said, bracing myself.

"I question your thinking skills. I could tell you had an AI in your robotic arm, even through your fake skin. I fought the Arbiter, receiving no more than a scratch. I even kicked your ass. And you doubt that I can navigate these mountains?"

"Um, well, that's impressive and all, but that has nothing to do with how well you are at geography."

"Here's a good place to camp," she said suddenly, changing the subject.

It wasn't. There was no cover in sight. Just a flat, open area.

"Stop changing the subject!" I said.

She ignored me, sitting down. The suns had set a long time ago, but the moon(s) were so close, you could hardly tell.

I sat down next to Jai.

"Please tell me how you know where the keep is. I can't take the suspense any longer," I said.

She sighed.

"I'll tell you if you give me the candy bar you've been hiding in your pocket."

Wow. I had forgotten I even had a candy bar. The split-mouths had taken it from me when I'd been captured, but they gave it back when they realized it wasn't a weapon of mass destruction.

I pulled out the candy bar, grumbling.

Jai snatched it out of my hand before I could consider the offer.

She had the chocolate gone in a matter of seconds. Watching her, I realized how hungry I was.

"Well, I see you're a fan of chocolate," I grinned.

She handed me the wrapper.

"Anyone who isn't needs to have their asses kicked."

I looked down at the wrapper and sighed. That was probably the last bit of human food I was going to see for a while.

I threw it on the ground.

"What are you doing?" she said.

I shrugged. She picked up the wrapper and handed it to me.

"I don't want to leave an easy trail for the Elites. Burn it, then sprinkle the ashes around the camp."

"How the hell am I supposed to burn it?"

She glared at me. "Still denying the flamethrower?"

Fuck. Is there anything she doesn't know about? I stood up, walked a little ways and torched the wrapper with my left pinky and threw the ashes all over the place.

I walked back to where Jai was sitting. "Alright, now you gotta tell me your secret."

Crap. "Really? But it's late and we should probably get some sleep…"

Skull continued to glare at me.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

I took a deep breath. I couldn't believe I was about to do this. I hadn't told anyone. Not my new…friend, Fàté, or even my best friend Olivia at Gilgamesh. And I'll bet Muffin was too fucked up to notice anything weird.

"I'm blind."

He blinked. "Wait, then how-"

"I'm not finished."

He shut his mouth.

"I'm blind, but I see auras."

I let that sink in.

"So….you see things like a Lucario?"

"What the hell is a Lucario?"

"Pokémon? One of the semi-legendaries of Sinnoh? What kind of childhood did you live?"

I glared at him. "I lived in a brothel."

"Oh…um…right…never mind then…."

We sat in an awkward silence for a while.

"I'll take first watch," Skull said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Why, because I'm blind? No thanks. I can keep watch in my sleep, so I'll do it."

He shrugged, lying on his back. He was asleep in seconds.

I lay down, too. Far away from Skull. I did a quick sweep, checking a four mile radius from our position. Nothing. I turned onto my side and fell asleep.

The sun blaring at my eyelids woke me up. Dammit, I overslept. Then I realized where I was. Despite going to sleep ten feet away from Skull, somehow I had managed to make his chest my pillow.

"Good morning," he said, startling me. I jumped up and felt my cheeks turning red.

"How long have you been awake?" I said, trying to ignore the big grin I wanted to slap off his face.

"Since dawn," he said, standing up slowly.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Well, you looked so peaceful..."

I growled at him.

"Well, now we get to run the rest of the way, no stopping."

"Aww. I was looking forward to going to sleep again."

I took off running.

Skull caught up with me way too easily.

"Don't worry; it'll be our little secret."

_It better be_, I thought.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII

Fàté

It took some time—okay so a few hours—to convince the Arbiter to allow me to do my thing. I didn't get to have Muffin, but baby steps. I whistled a tune as I looked down at the speeding by landscape. A Grunt was currently holding the turret, as if the Elites didn't want me use it. I shielded my eyes from the glare of the three suns, looking for any telltale signs of the overgrown toddler on steroids. I smiled and pointed a finger at a big thing lumbering through some dead looking foliage. "Thar she blows!"

Aliens. They have no sense of humor.

The pilot slowed down and banked over Ashley. We sunk down through the trees until we were at the best exiting altitude. The doors opened and several Elites and Grunts jumped out of the Phantom. The Arbiter walked up beside me. "Um, I don't think-" He didn't let me finish.

"AHH!" I screamed, arms flailing as I dropped through the air. The air escaped me as I collided with the arms of a Sangheili warrior.

"Human," he scoffed, letting me hit the ground.

I moaned, pulling myself onto my feet. The Arbiter landed next to me and I wheezed, "You guys are so nice."

Again, no humor.

The head honcho started off, commanding the group, "The target is heading east. We will intercept her and lure here into loading beam of the Phantom." He shot a look at me. "This better work."

"If it doesn't," I assured, "then I'm not a genius." That's a good guarantee. We had only gone a few steps to get from one clearing in the dead-looking foliage to another, where Miss Goliath was squeezing the Grunt David. The tale didn't go like the Bible story.

"I'll hold you, and pet you, and call you George!"

We were all silent. As was the Grunt as she snapped its ribs. I flinched, hearing the sound from over here. Not cause she killed the Grunt but because I thought of her doing that to me.

"Human!" the Arbiter barked.

She turned with wide, child-like eyes. And not the sparkly "a new toy" look, either. The one when they're about to pee themselves when their older sibling is telling them a really scary story.

"I don't wanna get stuck again!" she shouted, throwing the Grunt's dead body at us. Then, realizing it she yelled, "George!" She sprinted towards us, as if thinking we were going to harm him. Can't do that, he's already dead. But I didn't want to get the wind knocked out of me, so I didn't tell her that. Instead I held out the Lekgolo worm that was part of my plan.

"Look, Ashley! It's Wormy!"

She stumbled to a halt, almost falling on her face. "Wormy?" she gasped, staring at the squirming orange alien. "Wormy!" You know what? I was more content with her targeting the aliens. Now she was running right for me! Gah! I flung myself out of her path, feeling a bit of satisfaction as she tripped over two Unggoy and onto a Sangheili. I busted my side at the hilarious scene, even having to wipe a tear away.

Ashley, the poor girl—um, yeeah—looked at me with tears in her eyes and cried, "Why'd you do that?"

"I didn't want to get crushed?" I tried. Apparently, it didn't work on someone like Ashley. She started to bawl.

"GROAR!"

Every single one of us froze. Just in time to see this huge, quadruped reptilian beast to leap out of the coarse forest-type deal. I had to look into the foliage on this planet. It interested me. _Hold it! Don't get distracted from the alien Godzilla that might try to eat you!_ I had good self-advice as the overgrown lizard took a lunge at me. I dropped to the sand and rolled to the side, barely having it go over me. I jumped to my feet and back pedaled, hoping to put some aliens or much larger human between me and the reptile.

Of course nothing could ever go the way I would hope.

"Squishy!" Ashley called out in her endearing, childish way. Get this; it looked at her with puppy eyes. "That meanie is keeping Wormy from me!"

I looked back at her, seeing her jabbing a meaty finger straight at—yep, you guessed it—_moi_. I looked back at "Squishy", who was baring its razor teeth and looking like a snake about to strike.

Well, _crap_.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter XVIII

Jai

"How much longer do we have to run?" Skull whined.

"Forever. Do you always complain so much?" I growled.

We'd been running since noon-would have been sooner if Skull hadn't been fantasizing-but the keep was already three miles away. It was surrounded by hills-on a mountain, yes-on all sides except the front. That was barricaded with energy barriers, patrolled by Banshee's and Phantoms, and defended by a group of Elites and Grunts. Piece 'o cake.

"Is all that really necessary?" Skull said in awe.

I snorted. "They couldn't make it easier if they tried."

He looked at me. "And what magically produced, impossible plan has brought you to that outrageous conclusion?"

"Not impossible. Just a little impractical. We lure the Grunts from the Elites, kill them, tie their intestines together and use it to climb into the keep."

Skull didn't respond. I glanced at him. His eyes were wider than the gems they were colored after-one ruby, one sapphire-and it looked like he'd unhinged his jaw.

"Is there a problem?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why-how...WHAT?" he sputtered "WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Well, I woke up on your chest. That's my problem."

He glared at me. "Not funny." The aura in his face was bright red.

"Maybe not to you." I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

A loud shriek pierced the air, interrupting our petty argument.

"Oh, shit! Duck!" I yelled, diving into the blood red sand. Skull was not as fast.

The Banshee fired, but it wasn't a typical plasma bolt. Instead, a net of energy was released. When it hit Skull, it created a cocoon of blinding energy around him.

"What the hell?" he gasped. He tried to hop away, only managing to face plant into the sand. "Help me!"

As much as Skull annoyed me, I wish I could've helped him. But there was nothing I could do. The Banshee had turned around and was diving for Skull. I stayed absolutely still, hoping the Banshee couldn't read heat signatures. Maybe my hair would help me blend into the sand.

"Jai? Hello? Help!" Skull screamed as the Banshee fired again. This time a single stream of energy connected with the cocoon. It then proceeded to drag Skull towards the keep.

"Fuck!" he yelled, struggling to break the cocoon. He shouted obscenities until

I could no longer hear him.

"Well...this makes my task easier."

I waited a few minutes before pulling myself out of the sand. I crept toward the keep, not standing straight up for almost the entire three miles. There was no cover, but the shadow of the keep was dark against the light of the setting suns, and it would be difficult for even the Elites sharp eyes to see me.

Suddenly, the Phantoms, three of them, turned, speeding towards me. I stopped, sitting absolutely still. They flew over me, traveling extremely fast. They flew about twenty miles south, stopping to hover over a dead-looking forest.

I stretched my senses to the Phantoms. The ape, Ashley, as well as the Arbiter, a few more Elites and...Fàté? She was being attacked by some kind of giant lizard thing.

"She got herself into that situation, I'm sure she can get herself out" I said, refocusing my attention on the keep.

The Grunts were huddled together near the barrier, asleep. But the Elites were wide awake, patrolling the barrier.

There were about five of them. Four had shiny, light blue armor that screamed "Beat the shit out of me, I'm a Rookie!" The last one, though, was a battle-hardened veteran. He wore maroon armor that was dented, scratched, and had a few spots where he'd obviously been shot with plasma. His skin was covered in battle scars.

When I was close enough for them to notice me, I stood upright and strolled over to them.

"Well, this is quite the welcome party. I assume I'm the first to arrive?" I said, pretending to examine my nails.

The veteran glanced at his companions. "Yes, you are, human. Congratulations!" he said. Before the last word was out of his mouth, the other Elites attacked.

I backpedaled, turning to run, but one of the bastards grabbed my hair and another blocked my path. I kept running, thankful that my hair was long enough, and ran up the Elite at a ninety degree angle. I was airborne for a few seconds, before my feet slammed into the Elite holding my hair.

I heard a crunch as his collarbone broke beneath my combined weight and momentum and he collapsed beneath me.

"RAWR!" the others yelled. The Elite I'd used as a wall charged, eyes glistening. I twirled-no other word for it-making a fist. When the Elite reached me, my twirl-really wish there was another word for it-ended and my fist connected with his 'face'. I felt the skin tear on my knuckles but I kept going.

As he fell towards the ground, I jumped up, slamming my feet into his chest.

His armor cracked and his eyes bulged.

A cold hand grabbed my arm, pulling me away. I turned to see that the veteran had joined the brawl. I spit in his face.

"AH!" he yelled, head-butting me.

"Shit..." I gasped, slumping to the ground.

I landed on my back, and the air released from my lungs. I could feel blood trickling down my forehead. I slowly tried to stand, but my legs buckled and I fell back to the ground.

"And you thought you could fight us" one of the remaining Elites said, kicking me in the stomach. I grabbed his foot, twisting hard. Normally, a foot would have broken; all it did to the Elites reinforced bones was cause him to fall onto his chest. I climbed onto his back, grabbed his head and twisted until I heard a snap.

"NOOO!" the veteran roared. His aura was pure red, and extremely painful to look at. There was a slight purple mixed in; grief. God-dammit.

Faster than possible, even for Elites, he was upon us. He grabbed my neck, pulling me off the dead Elite and threw me. I flew about ten feet, right into a nicely placed pile of rocks.

I heard a crack, felt flesh tear in multiple places as the sharp rocks pierced my skin.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter XIX

Fàté

I was not cut out for things like this. I struggled beneath the large foot pressing down on my chest. The long snout opened widely, a loud roar thundering in my ears. Its head moved back, getting ready to sink its multitude of sharp teeth into my head when the sound of plasma discharging caused it to jump away. It hissed, a barbed, forked tongue lashing out. A few plasma bolts shot at it, missing by a small margin. Its left flank had a few plasma burns, probably from when it had me pinned. With a final growl, it turned and disappeared into the brush.

I chuckled uneasily, standing up to face the Elites. Then I was reminded of the reason we were here. Currently, the resident freak of nature was ripping the team apart, using one of their own. Some poor Elite had the luck to be used as Ashley's new weapon. I dropped into a crouch as a Grunt was swatted like a fly over my head. I admired what could be considered an art, the girl decimating alien after alien. Anyone who tried to get within reach of her weaponized Elite got smacked across the clearing. When everyone was either lying on the ground or hanging far enough back, she finally slowed her onslaught, slinging the Elite's body a ways away from her. The only thing recognizable was his race, and only just.

The calm before the storm, as they say. The only sound was a low humming noise, steadily rising. I peered over the petrified canopy, three purple ships coming to hover over the clearing. A plasma turret trained on Ashley, and I opened my mouth to shout stop, but it fired before that. A shot of energy spewed out, spreading wide like shotgun shots. Her arm came up, the net wrapping itself around her arm. She struggled against it, arm shaking with strain as she pulled against it.

"This is where we part ways, human." My green flashed over to the Arbiter, turning calculating without hesitation. An energy sword was alive in his hand and his beady eyes staring me down. "You are now joining the trial." My brief romp through the databases had informed me of what trail he was speaking of. "I believe the human expression for this would be 'good luck'." I wasn't going to like this.

_ShreeeeCK! _Both of our heads snapped over to the other human. The energy net was starting to dissolve after the short time the connection was lost. At the end of the disappearing chord was a snapped fragment of a plasma turret's barrel. She was huffing, the first time I ever saw her out of breath. "Stupid spider web!" she yelled, looking completely fed up with all this. She picked up a nearby grunt's body, flinging it straight into the plasma turret of one of the other Phantoms. The ground shook as she stormed straight into the brush. While there was an easy path to follow her, the gunners were blind to her.

I flashed a smirk at the Arbiter, haughtily saying, "This is where we part ways, _friend_." I spun around, making a mad dash for the cover of the petrified forest. I heard a Sangheili howl behind me but I didn't stop for some chitchat. For one that wasn't athletically inclined I did know how to move quickly through brush. It came with the territory of rigging traps throughout the woods near my house. I ducked under branches, hurdled over bushes, danced around trees, and ran like hell.

Of course, not being in the best shape I had to stop soon enough. I doubled over, gasping for the sweet oxygen to enter my lungs. I was being excessively loud in my opinion. It's almost like a creature was breathing down my neck. That's when I froze.

_OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!_ Pain was streaking down my body as it towed through underbrush. My arms were up around my head, trying to protect it from getting _ripped off_, but two flimsy appendages weren't miracle workers. At least the other pain was taking my mind off the fangs digging into the soft tissue of my leg. I cried out pain as its head whipped, tossing me like a ragdoll onto the ground.

I moaned, twisting my torso to glance up at the oversized lizard. "Oh great, hey Squishy," I sputtered, spitting speckles of blood onto the earth in front of me.

It glared down at me, tongue lashing out. The forked ends scratched my cheek but the pain wasn't really anything compared to my chewed on leg or the rest of my scored body. It looked perfectly happy to eat me alive. It went in to tear off my arm, severing it fast enough I barely felt a tug. I heard the ripping, though, of cloth. I stared down at my scratched but still attached bicep, an orange worm clinging to it. Oh my God. . .Wormy.

I have never seen something so big be so delicate. The Lekgolo crept onto the offered claw of the reptile. It carefully raised it up to the top of its head, where the worm wrapped around a small protruding spike. With a final glower at me, Godzilla sprang back into the forest, off to presumably find Ashley. How she domesticated that beast ceased to be comprehended.

It was about an hour—a human hour not a Sangheili one—before I heard the vehicle's approach. I flopped my head over, scanning what I could from my lying position. A relatively small, hovering vehicle eased to a stop a few yards from me. There was an Unggoy pilot, who hopped out when the foreign vehicle settled on the forest litter. He skittered over to me, worriedly murmuring to himself. I was dragged, yet again, over to my next mode of transport. He was busy trying to figure out how to get both of us on there that he didn't he realize I had gotten his weapon until I pistol whipped him in the back of the head. I clambered onto the scout vehicle, starting it up as soon as I was comfortable.

The now awoken grunt hollered after me as I rode my tattered body away on his stolen ride, off to the fabled Promised Land.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter XX

Jai

I don't remember how I had gotten into a medical bay….or who had brought me here. All I could remember was the extreme pain I was in. I couldn't move at all; my limbs refused to obey my brain.

"Arbiter, there is no other way. If she is to live, we must use our medical equipment" a gargled voice said next to me.

"If we wait for the human equipment to arrive from Earth, we can use their equip-"

"You know the human's medical technology cannot help her" the first voice said, brutally cutting off the second.

The second voice sighed deeply. "Fine. But any side effects are on your hands and you will be punished accordingly. I hope for your sake you don't mess up."

"Yes, your grace…"

There was a soft thudding as someone left the room, presumably the Arbiter, and then a hiss as the door slid shut.

"You heard the Arbiter. Warm up the machines and prepare her for surgery."

"What about the boy? His leg appears to be fractured, maybe even broken."

"His situation is not dire. He can wait on the human transport. Now do as I say".

I felt myself being moved on the alien version of a gurney-basically the same except it hovered over the ground. Although my eyes were closed, a bright light nearly blinded me.

"Give her the anesthesia".

I felt a needle forcing its way into the vein in my elbow, but compared to the gut wrenching pain I felt all over my body, it didn't even sting. I shivered as the alien drug entered my blood and felt myself growing tired after only a few moments.

"She is ready" I heard a distant voice say as I drifted off.

As I walked into the keep's mess hall, I spotted my group almost immediately; Fàté's hair stuck out worse than she realized. My aura reading ability didn't hurt either. Plus there were only around 700 kids in the room. I guess the other 300 didn't make it through the mountain.

The surgery had only taken a few hours, or so I had been told, and I was up and about after only an hour of recovery. Sure, my body was covered in stitches and would probably be scarred for life, but I felt great. The doctor had said that their technology may have some positive side effects-such as added bone strength. Because most of my bones had been shattered, the Elites were forced to use an Elite bonding agent on me. So my bones were now 15% stronger than the average humans. Fucking sweet.

"Hello, my dear, sweet, homicidally insane inmates!" I said as I sat down next to Ashley, who was busy eating everyone else's food as usual.

"You're the only one who's homicidally insane" she said as she gulped down some disgusting looking tentacle. I shivered.

"Um….Skull, are you sure you saw her get tossed into a pile of deadly, pointed rocks? Because she looks fine to me" Fàté whispered to Skull, who was busy tinkering with a cast covering his left leg.

"Hm? OH, yeah…I'm pretty sure…." He said, glancing my way. "How'd you make it without getting a scratch? I saw them carry you into that medical bay and I didn't figure you would make it".

"Thanks for sounding so concerned" I growled "they had to use some of their machines to patch me up. I got away clean with only a bit of scarring".

"Let's see it" he said.

"Alright if you say so".

I pulled my hair around to my back, showing the stitches along my arms and the more fatal one that ran parallel to my neck and disappeared beneath my shirt. "I've got some on my torso and legs too, but I can't bend much more. The most I can do is walk right now".

"I really hope those don't get infected because I have to share a room with you" Fàté said, rubbing her bandaged leg.

"Mhm…almost makes me want them to get infected out of spite".

"Real mature"

"I said _almost._ God woman, take a fucking joke".

She rolled her eyes. "I have more important things on my mind".

"Why do you have to cuss?" Ashley muttered beside me, already finished with her mountain of alien mush.

"Because I _fucking_ feel like it you ingrate".

"That's not a reason" .

"Just let it go, Ashley. She's too stubborn".

"But I want to know why everyone older than me wants to cuss. What's the big attraction?"

"I will destroy you if you do not stop speaking you stupid child" I growled.

"But-"

Skull pushed his plate towards her. It was super effective.

"You're welcome" he said

I flipped him off.

"Anytime, anywhere" he said, winking.

Fàté looked severely grossed out. "Really, Skull? Really?"

An important looking Elite entered the room, effectively shutting everyone up.

"It is time for you to rest. Tomorrow we will start again".

A lot of the kids groaned as we were herded out of the mess hall and into our new rooms, which were only slightly larger than the last. I wondered if we would ever have our own rooms.

"Karma is a bitch" I said as Fàté and I were placed in the same room again. Alone. With no other people.

"Oh shove off" she said, carefully pulling herself onto a bed; her leg wouldn't even bend.

"At least these are actually made for sleeping on" I joked upon finding that the beds were soft and comfortable. Fàté, of course, didn't laugh.

"Does it not bother you that over a quarter of the kids who went into those mountains didn't come out?" she shouted suddenly.

"Nope" I said, laying on my back and staring at the ceiling.

"Of course it doesn't. Because you aren't even human".

"Why, thank you!"

"Argh!" she yelled, giving up on trying to insult me and turning to face the wall.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite!" I said, pulling my covers over me. I could sense Fàté tense up and look for anything that may be hiding in her bed.

"I hate you so much" she whispered. But I was already asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Currently we're editing earlier chapters, making things a bit different to correlate better with things. Once we get all of them fixed, we'll put them all up. Expect that with our next upload, 'kay?**

**Chapter XXI**

Fàté

Like every morning for the past year or so, we were all herded outside the keep. Indeed, quite a while had passed since we first had set foot here. I actually had a bit of a muscle now! Though, only a bit. . .

During the time between arrival and the present we had received general training, like Basic at our own military. Speaking of our military, or more specifically the Office of Naval Intelligence. . .A few months after being stationed here the first shipment arrived. Unlike my less informed peers, I could tell right away that the secretive ONI not only knew we were on Sangheilios, but supported it. Of course, knowing what I know, it wasn't all that surprising. Not like I cared about that, oh no! It was the once-a-month torture session in which I was restrained and had chemicals pumped into me via the fucking needles of Satan! Mother of FUCKING GOD! I was about to go all apeshit up into this joint if I saw another one of those THINGS!

I HATE NEEDLES!

Calm down, Fàté. Just. Calm. Down. You don't have to deal with that until approximately twenty-one days, eleven hours, and fourteen minutes from now. So you can relax and take deep breaths.

"Attention!"

I snapped to attention, my thought bubble popping at the harsh call. My head whipped around, trying to make sense of what I had missed out on. The numbers had been diminished by about half, the other portion already long gone to wherever. Looking around, a sinking feeling settled in my gut. There was nothing special about the humans surrounding me. Ragamuffins and vagabonds. I couldn't believe it. I was with the outcasts. I was with the cannon-fodder.

The Sangheili narrowed his beady eyes, sternly ordering, "The rest of you are in the Non-Specialized Group and will receive a more balanced training than the other groups. It will not be unlike your previous training, apart from being more in-depth." He gestured with a slight nod to one of his Elite brethren. "Jaor 'Gradar will be the overseer of all your group's activities. Lest you not disappoint, whelps."

We were on the move as soon as we were turned over, being marched to our new training grounds. Actually, it was the same place we had been training at for the last year. The only difference was the segregation. Although, this was practically our last chance to survive. This was the make-it-or-break-it stage. If we couldn't pull through and show our stuff, we were dead.

I didn't want to sound arrogant or anything, but I couldn't believe I was with this group! I was the smartest thing alive! I'm more of an asset than anyone else! There was no way I was going to let this be the end of me!

We were dispersed into smaller groups, set on a rotating schedule between different types of weapons and skill training. I didn't like that.

"My god," I hissed, "I'm horrible at anything not intellectual."

The boy next to me fretfully whispered, "Shh! I don't want to get in trouble!" I pursed my lips. The instructor did not have any patience and after a year here we all knew what happened to troublemakers. I eyed the Elite watching over this station, who luckily was paying attention to our handiwork and not our hushed words. I jerked when someone shot a needle rifle round into the leg of one of the targets. Damn needles, even following me onto the training field. I fired off a few shots from my carbine, all but one missing the target.

"Fuck," I growled, grinding my teeth to suppress the urge to throw the weapon down. Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Jaor 'Gradar was striding towards me, his mandibles twitching in anger. "Double fuck."

"Human!" he barked, looking upon me with disgust, "You are a pitiful excuse for a soldier of any kind!" There was a twinkle in his cold eyes, snorting with amusement, "Ah, but aren't all of your species weaklings?" I set my jaw, swallowing the retort I was about to let loose. Don't do it. You know you'll regret it. "Have nothing to say, insolent girl?"

Dammit.

"Yeah, well who did you piss off to get stuck teaching the rejects?"

I cried out in pain, black spots dancing across my sight. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. It helped, but did nothing for the exploding feeling in my chest. I must be picking up a bad temper from Jai. She was going to be the end of me.

He lumbered over to where he had kicked me, something akin to a smile on his mandibles. "Humans are weak and stupid creatures," he sneered.

I chuckled, wiping a smear of coughed up blood from my lip. I shouldn't, I really shouldn't. But no one gets away with insulting my intelligence. I looked up at him, smirking at the insane notion in my head.

"Like to see you say that to a Spartan."

I saw a hoof and then everything went black.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter XXII**

Jai

"So how's the special training going?" Ashley asked between gulps of her food. ONI had finally decided to send us some edible, human food, but Ashley preferred alien mush. Disgusting.

"Oh well its-" Skull started before I interrupted him by slamming my hands on the table.

"I. NEED. MY. GUITAR. OR. EVERYONE. WILL. DIE." I slowly spelled it out for them. Training for me was going terribly. Everyone who was supposedly talented with rouge skills were actually terrible. I was going to go insane if I didn't have my sweet Gibson to calm me down.

Skull glanced at me and continued. "It's going pretty great. I finally know how to make EMPs as well as work on pretty much anything mechanical. The instructors here-"

"ARE YOU ALL DEAF?"

"My training is going great! No spoilers though." Ashley said, burping very loudly as she pushed away four empty plates.

"My training…I'm not even getting any! I was….. placed in the _cannon fodder_ group! Me! The smartest person in…. probably all of the UNSC's collective colonies!" Fàté preached, gasping from the chest injury she'd acquired almost a month ago.

"Always the modest one, aren't we?" Skull chuckled. He finally turned his attention to me. "Now what are you going on about?"

"OH! So now someone cares about me ripping the souls from their bodies! I SWEAR TO LUCIFER IF I DON'T GET MY GUITAR, I WILL HAVE A FEAST WITH THE GODS AND YOU ALL WILL BE THE MAIN COURSE!" I screamed as I ran out of the room.

We weren't really supposed to leave the mess hall before being dismissed, but we had been granted a bit more freedom since we'd started our specialized training. I eventually found myself in the room I shared with Fàté. The completely boring, small, un-personalized room. I flopped down on the bed and drifted off into a nightmare.

When I finally awoke late the next morning-every month when we had to get our shots we got the day off-my bed was ripped apart. Some nightmare…I couldn't even remember any of it. As I swung my feet over the side of the bed, I hit something. It clattered to the floor with a hum. I picked it up slowly, examining it with my fingers; it was a guitar. An acoustic guitar that was obviously made with whatever the creators could find.

"Aw…what a lovely gesture…" I said in a cheery voice as I walked out of the room. Judging by the warmth I felt from the sun in the courtyard, it was around lunch time. Perfect.

As soon as I entered the mess hall and found my group, they all turned their attention to me.

"Good morning, sunshine. Like your present?" Skull said mockingly. "In all seriousness though, how do you like it?"

"I drew up its design. Skull merely put the pieces together" Fàté chirped in.

"And I painted it!" Ashley added happily.

I scoffed to myself. "Do you guys really want to know what I think?"

"Yeah" they all said at the same time.

"Well, firstly -" I started calmly as I could in order to keep the element of surprise before I quickly slammed the guitar onto the table with enough force to shatter it to millions of sawdust-like pieces. "THAT. IS. NOT. MY. GUITAR. DO. NOT. EVER. ATTEMPT. TO. REPLACE. MY. GUITAR. EVER."

I beamed at the groups stunned faces. Ashley started to sob a little bit. Cry baby. Skull continued with his asshole routine, pretending not to be hurt, but I could read his heat waves. He was crushed. Fàté didn't look surprised at all.

"Secondly, this-"I held up the remains of the guitar in my hand "-is _not_ a guitar. It is for_ old_ people, not for people who actually like good music."

I left the room as quickly as I entered, approaching one of the numerous guards near the hall. "I'm ready for my shot now."

The elite nodded, waving me down the hallway to the medical bay. There were several people there getting their shots as well, but they all moved quickly to make room for me. _Everyone_ knew not to mess with me.

As one of the doctors pulled me to the side to administer the shot, I stopped him. "I will get my shot as soon as I speak with the Arbiter."

The doctor looked uneasy for a moment before replying. "You will get the shot now-"

I got in his face. "Listen up, _runt_. I am no stranger to how rank works among the Sangheili. I know doctors are at the _very_ bottom. And if I remember correctly, we have had an encounter before and I kicked your ass. Now, unless you would like me to beat you within inches of your life-and you know I will do it-you will get me a meeting with the Arbiter immediately."

I saw the elite gulp and slowly put the needle down. He bowed slightly to me before leaving the bay to find someone of higher rank.

"I've got these guys wrapped around my fingers" I sighed, jumping up onto his chair and resting my head against the wall. I laughed to myself as I saw the other teens giving me frightened glances and whispering among themselves.

"No problem at all…" I felt my eyes start to grow tired and allowed myself to fall asleep in the uncomfortable position.


	23. Chapter 23

** Chapter XXIII**

Jai

"Wake up, human!" a gnarled voice yelled before a blinding pain hit my face.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" I screamed, jumping up and banging my head into the alien standing over me.

"Silence!" he shouted back, grabbing my arms and restraining me. I started to fight him off but I noticed that I wasn't in the medical bay anymore and I was covered in blood. What the hell was going on?

"Human. It seems as though you are more trouble than you're worth sometimes. Give me a good reason why you decided to take it upon yourself to lighten the load on my shoulders by slaughtering three of my best doctors and seven other humans?" a deep voice said in a scarily calm tone. I looked up and saw the Arbiter standing before me. I tried to read his heat waves but the armor he wore effectively hid them. A shame.

"I have no idea what you are talking about" I said. I really didn't. But I had a damn good idea.

The Arbiter nodded and the elite behind me pulled me down onto my knees, producing a small energy dagger. He proceeded to push the flat of the blade against the inside of my arm, just a bit above the wrist.

If the Arbiter was hoping for a show, he was disappointed. At most I bit my lip until it bled. The elite repeated this on the other arm.

"You are indeed strong. Not so unbelievable that you managed to murder all of them. But I want to know why."

"If I did what you say I did, it was an accident. I had no control over myself when I did it. I don't even remember it."

"Liar!" the Arbiter shouted at my, some of his spit hitting me in the face.

The elite behind me pressed the blade against my arm again, repeating the process quite a few times. Before I was finally released, my entire inner arms were covered in crisscrossing burn marks.

"WHY DID YOU DO IT?" the Arbiter screamed, finally losing his temper.

"Because I am separated from the one thing in this universe that gives me comfort. My Gibson Explorer guitar. Or I guess you could just call it a musical instrument. If you would be ever so kind as to bring it to me, all of this will be but a blood stained nightmare. Otherwise these will continue and they will get worse."

The Arbiter was stunned that I was ordering a seemingly useless item all the way from my home planet. He honestly didn't know what to do. He didn't want to seem like he was being ordered around by a human but he also couldn't risk the lives of the rest of his elites and the humans under his care. He had to agree.

"Fine. One more slip up on your part and I will rip you apart myself. I don't care how talented you are."

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Man, these guys were idiots. Taking orders from me. We must be even more valuable to them than we realized.

"Let your scars remind you of what can happen from just one slip up."

The elite finally released my numb wrists and I winced as I stretched the burned skin of my arms. The Arbiter laughed at my pained reaction.

"Send her away. I have more important matters to deal with" he said sternly to the elites hovering around his shoulders.

"Catch ya later, Arby!" I shouted down the hall as I was escorted out of the room. _And hello, Gibson_.


End file.
